Grow microgreens on a bright windowsill indoors and you can keep your green fingers busy right through the winter as well as providing yourself with some really scrumptious freshly picked and home- grown salad greens even when the garden outside is frozen.
Microgreens
Microgreens are veg eaten at seedling stage, when they’re extremely tender and the flavour is fiercely concentrated into a little taste explosion, It’s the very latest in cutting-edge cuisine and works brilliantly with nearly every kind of vegetable you can think of (though avoid parsnips which are poisonous at the seedling stage). Start with radish, sunflowers and red cabbage, and graduate to chard, sweetcorn, basil or kale – all packed with nutrients and absolutely delicious.
You’ll find the seeds you need ready to go on the seed racks here at the garden centre in Athlone - look out for easy to use microgreen sowing packs to make the job even simpler.
Grow your own
If you’re sowing from scratch, cover the bottom of a takeaway container with a little damp compost or soaked kitchen towel, then sow quite densely (there’s no need to cover). In less than a fortnight – and sometimes just a few days – you can enjoy intensely-flavoured mini-veg heaven. Re-sow every week or two for a continuous supply.